I have limited expertise. (I have many opinions, but I have limited expertise.) That means I need to decide when to trust someone else’s expertise. My decisions depend on many criteria, including the domain—and the personal cost to me. I have substantial expertise in product development, so I check the context, look for options, and […]
Whose Experience and Expertise Do You Trust and When? Read More »
Now that I’ve had my vaccinations, I’m ready to renew myself. I miss seeing people, locally and worldwide. However, I definitely do not want to work and live the way I did before. Instead, I want to take this time to renew (and maybe reinvent), starting with my thinking. Of course, I looked up the
How Will You Renew Yourself? Read More »
Do you ever reflect and realize you didn’t accomplish something you wanted to? I don’t regret much in my life. I have one big exception to that—when my mouth says something before my brain realizes I’ve even said anything. (Some of us extroverts have the mouth-engage-before-brain problem. Infrequently, introverts also have this problem.) If I realize what
What Do You Want to Accomplish so You Don’t Create Regrets? Read More »
Many of us make short-term decisions right now. Totally understandable given the chaos around us. However, we have a number of wicked problems. When we only think for the short-term, we make decisions that don’t solve those wicked problems. We need to use long-term thinking to influence our short-term decisions. You might wonder about where
Where Do You Want to Be Long-Term, Say in 50 Years? Read More »
2020 has challenged all of us. We’ve learned to work at home and live where we work. Some of us have learned to teach and parent and work. All of us have learned the art of social distancing, mask-wearing, and hand-washing. So why am I asking about how we might challenge ourselves in the future?
Where Will You Challenge Yourself? Read More »
The US Thanksgiving holiday is tomorrow. Many people will offer thanks for their families, their lives, their work. I’ll do that. And, I won’t stop with my immediate family. I’ll also give thanks for our unsung heroes. Too few of us realize how many unsung heroes exist. They rarely make the news or social media.
Who Are Your Unsung Heroes? Read More »
Many of my colleagues and clients continue to focus on the short-term right now. They need to make money to keep their businesses afloat. I understand and empathize. And, they need to manage their family’s various pulls on their time. Some of my colleagues have moved to one parent in charge of home and schooling.
How Do You Balance the Short Term and the Long Term? Read More »
I’ve been thinking about perfection these days. As a society, we seem to want it all. We want everything open. We don’t discriminate between schools and airplanes. And, several people have written to me, saying they want to be perfect in some or many areas of their lives. I wish I was perfect. Not only
How Much Imperfection Can We Live With? Read More »
We often talk about a few “bad apples” in teams, groups, or even society as a whole. We use the term “bad apples” because that metaphor helps us see that one bad apple can poison an entire container. Should we tolerate one bad apple? Are there other options to help us create a culture that
How Do We Create Culture? Read More »
I often find I want to create more choices in my life. I want to avoid just a binary choice: “this” or “that.” I use personal reflections, a personal retrospective, to create new options. I often use a form called “What, So what, Now what?” Here’s what that looks like: What: Gather relevant data. My personal
Want to Choose Again? Reflect to Create New Options Read More »